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About Harts

A one-man music making machine.

Harts is the musical stage name of award winning Indian-born, Australian-based musician, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music producer Darren Hart.

Over his career Harts has cemented himself as one of Australia’s leading music talents, building an impressive resume of critically acclaimed work as a solo artist, collaborator and live performer.

Famously discovered and mentored by legendary music icon Prince at Paisley Park, Harts has composed, written, recorded and produced the entirety of his music catalog to date.

With 3 full length albums, 2 EPs, and a multitude of festival and TV appearances both locally and internationally, his unique blend of funk, blues, psychedelic rock, pop, and indie electronic has seen him rise to great musical heights, building loyal and dedicated local and international fanbases along the way.

Raised in Melbourne, Australia, Harts first recorded and issued self-produced demos online in 2010. Quickly finding a record deal with Island Records Australia, polished up versions of those tracks became Harts’ buzzed about 2013 debut EP, ‘Offtime’.

Harts went independent for his 2014 debut album, ‘Daydreamer‘, a ten-track collection of guitar-heavy electro-funk jams which earned local and international praise from a large variety of media and music publications. During this time, Harts also received praise from iconic music legend Prince, noting that “He reminds me of how I was at that age”. Prince flew Harts out to Paisley Park to meet and jam with him in 2014.

2015 saw Harts release his second EP titled ‘Breakthrough’, which featured two Triple J #1 most played songs, ‘When a Man’s A Fool’ and the title track ‘Breakthrough’. Harts was also approached by Subaru in 2015 for an experimental creative campaign in which the 2016 WRX model car was fitted with the guitarists Wah-Wah pedal as the accelerator. The campaign reached a myriad of people online and helped establish Harts as Australia’s newest guitar hero.

Harts joined the ranks at Universal for his sophomore LP, 2016’s ‘Smoke Fire Hope Desire’, which was issued in the United States the following year via record label Razor & Tie. The album earned much praise and accolades including being awarded “Breakthrough Artist of the Year” at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards, being invited to collaborate on a song with The Roots & Lenny Kravitz for the official 2016 Rio Olympic Games Campaign and gaining major radio airplay in Australia including landing Triple J’s Album of the Week.

Departing Australia to pursue career opportunities in the U.S in 2017, Harts reached a wider audience via American television when his song ‘Power’ featured in the marketing campaign and trailers for the DC Comics NBC sitcom ‘Powerless’. He also landed a video premiere for the single ‘Peculiar’ on Conan O’Brien’s digital channel “Team Coco”.

In 2018, American rapper Joey Bada$$ and his team recruited Harts to play guitar in his live band for Triple J’s renowned live music segment “Like A Version”. Harts also performed alongside U.S rapper Denzel Curry in 2019 for his cover of Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Bulls On Parade’. The performance instantly went viral, amassing millions of views and rave reviews worldwide. The cover has reached over 14 million views across social media.

In 2019 Harts announced a new project called ‘Harts Plays Hendrix’, an Australian theatre show celebrating the 50 year legacy of Jimi Hendrix, where Harts would perform the music of the iconic legend live in theatres across Australia. The show began touring Australia in 2020 and has received overwhelmingly positive support from fans.

Further, Harts has featured as the talent in iconic guitar brand Fender’s campaign for their Ultra Series Stratocaster. He also stepped into the fashion world, landing the cover and a 10-page spread in the David Jones mens magazine ‘Mr Jones’.

In 2020, Harts performed as the headline Artist at the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony, for which he had been chosen to record and produce the official campaign theme song. He performed live on Channel 10’s NYE Gala later that year, as well as another stadium performance at the MCG for the Big Bash League Cricket in early 2021. Harts also made a TV appearance performing with Australian icon Delta Goodrem at her ‘Christmas With Delta’ special which aired on Channel 9.

With an eclectic music journey now spanning over 12 years, Harts has worked hard to achieve what few do. Now on the verge of a new musical endeavour, Harts invites you to his immersive new sounds of ‘The Melodaze’.